Wednesday, June 9, 2010

You do know Jonah Hill is signed on to play the role of a current front office assistant for the Padres, yes? Old news, sure, but it's worth being discussed at least once on here that Hill's playing Pauly DePodesta in the keeps-getting-delayed film adaptation of "Moneyball." And the role was originally cast with Demetri Martin. I just think it's cool.

Why is this relevant to this week's news? Because I've been hitting refresh every hour on DePo's blog, It Might Be Dangerous... You Go First. As far as I know, please correct me if I'm wrong, he's the only baseball executive keeping a regular blog with insights into how his team makes decisions. Here's his line to describe our second round pick, Jedd Gyorko, "a driven, hard-nosed player, Jedd is the type of grinder with the makeup to will himself to the Major Leagues." Emphasis mine.

Now, off Sean's post from yesterday, I can't help but look at an analysis like this and wonder where the hell DePo's predecessors in the front office went wrong with Matt Bush? Surely this has been asked by a much better writer than I, but how does the horrendous "makeup" of a local high school baseball star go so wildly unnoticed by the Padres brass? He had potential, sure. He was gonna be cheap to sign, sure. But did someone who'd go on to get in fights in Arizona nightclubs, drunkenly assault high school lacrosse players, trash John Moore's suite the day after he was drafted, and stand in a street throwing things at cars whilecrying really not have any red flags before he was drafted? Did he really deserve being picked first? And here's the better question: Will we ever get through another draft without hearing the name Matt Bush from either local or national media? I'll contribute to ending it... right after this next paragraph.

I want Bush to succeed. I do. It'll validate the whole mess and take the lump out of my stomach that appears whenever his name comes up. And it might happen: After being let go by the Blue Jays last year, he's attempting a comeback with the Rays this year. Out of the bullpen in their Class A affiliate, Bush has four innings pitched (he just came off the DL), a 2.25 ERA and 7 K's to 2 BB's.

If he keeps it up, maybe we'll even see him in Bud Black and Joe Maddon's hopeful Pad-Rays World Series later this year. I wish I could remember where I read this, probably an old MLBTR post, but an "unnamed Rays exec" recently said they hope to have Bush in their bullpen later this year. Probably just a September call-up, but still: The long shot combination of being in the World Series and having Matt Bush as the mop-up man in the opposing team's bullpen is a terrifying, exhilarating, confusing, relieving thought. It would help me deal with a lot of personal shit I'm going through.

Oh, and the Nationals will be on an Arizona/Los Angeles road trip from August 2nd to 8th. Who's coming with me to see Strasburg? Yesterday was magical. My fantasy pitchers are Halladay, Greinke, Liriano, Shields, Garza, Hughes. The obvious question: How many of them do I give up in a Strasburg trade? All?